Page:The Kea, a New Zealand problem (1909).pdf/113

Rh injures the loin, not because the kidneys are there, but because it is the easiest and in some cases the only possible point of attack. Nearly all my correspondents say that, from what they have seen, the Kea with few exceptions always settles on the sheep’s hind-quarters.

The first reason for this is that the rump is the widest and most solid part of the sheep’s back, and so forms a firm platform for the bird to alight on. Some eye-witnesses say that it is the only place where a Kea can retain its hold on a sheep.

One states:—“It is almost impossible for a Kea to stick on a sheep’s back, while pecking it, in any other position than behind the kidneys facing the head. I have seen them trying to hang on to the sheep’s back, but unless they were in the position described they could not stay on for ten yards.”

A musterer, writing to me concerning Keas that had worried some sheep in a sheep-camp, says:—“They did not seem to follow the same sheep, but just hopped on to the first one they came to. Sometimes, when one got on a sheep’s back in a good position—behind the kidneys, facing the head,—it would keep pecking, and would keep the sheep jumping round and through the mob for a long time.”

Secondly, when the Kea flies after a sheep the rump is the nearest and handiest part to settle on, and, as the sheep often stumbles and throws the bird off, it will often have to regain its seat while the poor beast is running; so it is no wonder that this part is nearly always selected.

Thirdly, when the Kea is once perched on the sheep’s back, it will naturally begin to peck at the handiest part, and this is certainly the loin. Fortunately for the bird, that part is the least protected portion of the whole sheep, for the loins are the only places where the internal organs are unprotected by ribs or other bone. Thus the bird can easily tear its way into the body cavity.

There seems to be very little doubt that the preceding reasons do more to determine the Kea’s point of attack than the presence of the kidneys or kidney fat. Though the bird